How to boat break a beagle

[Aubrey]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

I’ve been sailing for 45 years and cruising with my wife off and on for 25. Assuming preventive measures (vaccines) are possible next spring, we’re planning to go out for three months or so .
You’re never too old for a new experience: we plan to take our dog. We’ve been getting her acclimatized- she knows our boat by scent now- and seems to be relaxed when we take her sailing, but we’re at a loss on the next steps of making a real sea dog out of her. Obviously the next step is overnighting, but the goal is to get accustomed to doing her business on an astroturf mat on the deck. She can hold it overnight, but I don’t want to make her painfully uncomfortable by extending a first mini-cruise until she just can’t wait thus forcing her. So how does one break through on this?

My wife and I have been cruising the Med quite extensively with our 6 year-old beagle, Leia.
The advice given to you by other cruisers tracks with our experience. However, beagles are quite idiosyncratic so they might choose their own spot depending on the need. For example, Leia will pee on the mat, which we initially "perfumed" with other dogs pee, but she prefers the eyes of the boat (mentioned in another post), by the anchor roller, to poo. She'll usually go there when the boat is sailing steadily but we always try to keep an eye on her just in case. By the way, younger beagles seem to have very long "autonomy" regarding their business. Leia's record is 49 hours (pee and poo) from Barcelona to Calvi, Corsica. That said, she leaped onto the dock before we finished tying up and did it right there.
As for safety, we mainly use her life-vest when commuting between the boat and shore on the inflatable dinghy as she insists on standing or sitting on the bow on her own (beagles also like to show off). The rest of the time, because of the eat, she'll wear a harness instead of a collar. When sailing, she'll spend most of the time in the cockpit taking long naps and might make a round of the boat occasionally to stretch out. Again, we try to keep an eye on her, although frequently she'll squeeze under the upturned dinghy when it's stowed on the foredeck --shady and snug. At night or when the sea state is anywhere near choppy, we tether her into the cockpit and she's fine with that. On night passages, the she prefers to snuggle up to whomever is off watch bellow decks. We'r fine with that too.
One final thing that has proven to work for us: Beagles are not natural water dogs like labs, for example. We coaxed her since young into the water by showing her that she could swim safely on a beach even if she looses paw contact w¡th the bottom. Once she realized that turning around unfailingly brought her back to the shallows, she became fond of taking a swim every time we at a beach, a creek or any place she can potter around. These locations are rich in exotic odours so she loves them.
PS:Beagles ar NOT difficult to train; they're stubborn but smart so one just needs more perseverance. They know when it's time to say "OK, I get it".

[roverhi]

We tried every trick out there to get our dog boat broken but she just wouldn't do her business on the boat. She'd hold it till we caved in and took her ashore. Got to a point in time when we were going to be sailing to the Marquesas from San Diego and had to get her to do it on the boat or find a new home. We went for a cruise to Catalina and kept her on the deck while at anchor. She finally couldn't hold it any longer and took a dump on the foredeck. We praised her mightily and gave her a lot of affection and never had a problem afterwards including 24 straight days at sea. She'd tell us when she needed to go, we'd get her up on deck, she'd do her business in the lee walkway, I'd scoop it up and toss overboard, and wash down with bucket of salt water. Easy Peasy